Inter 0-0 Roma: interesting in theory, but not on the pitch
The starting line-ups
Two sides lacking confidence contested a fairly tame 0-0 draw in Milan.
Gian Piero Gasperini reverted to a three-man defence, but went with 3-4-1-2, as expected, rather than his favoured 3-4-3. Joel Obi came in on the left, and Wesley Sneijder was the number ten.
Luis Enrique stuck with his preferred 4-3-3, but made a surprise decision to start two midfielders at full-back – Rodrigo Taddei on the left, Simone Perrotta on the right.
Roma generally dominated possession but lacked ideas in the final third, whilst Inter had decent moments but had no cohesion upfront. The game fitted the 0-0 scoreline.
Formations and theory
The most interesting thing about this game was pre-match consideration of how the sides would play. Gasperini’s 3-4-3 was terrible at Palermo, and on the basis of that, another game with the same formation would have been foolish – you can’t play the same way and expect different results immediately. With Sneijder impressive when he came on against Palermo, moving into a deep, central position rather than staying in his wide-left starting role – plus Diego Forlan not comfortable out wide – it made sense to switch to 3-4-1-2.
That was only on the basis of last week’s display, though. It changes completely when you consider the way Roma were playing – with two players completely out of position at full-back. Leave them free, and they’re comfortable – no major defensive work, happy to move forward and influence the game in possession. Occupy them with a tricky opponent, and they would have looked extremely uncomfortable – and for that reason, it may have been worth Gasperini sticking with the 3-4-3, putting Sneijder up against Perrotta and Forlan against Taddei. He would have been crucified had it failed for being wedded to a system which doesn’t suit his players, but it was arguably the right way to go considering the extremely unusual situation at full-back.
Battles
In the end, Gasperini went 3-4-1-2. The Roma full-backs were free to push on up the pitch, and in a move borrowed from his old club Barcelona, Enrique told Daniele De Rossi to drop into the back, turning Roma into a back three, and a 3-4-3. David Pizarro and Sneijder broadly picked up each other in the middle (which did more harm than good to the game as a spectacle) whilst Javier Zanetti nullified Miralem Pjanic.
Roma had more of the ball – so why were they unable to open up a defence which has looked so dodgy? Totti, arguably, was not the right player for this situation as the central forward. He wanted to come deeper and deeper – maybe understandable given the lack of creativity in midfield – but Roma didn’t have the cohesion to put together the main move this system is meant to produce: Totti coming deep and the wide players moving into goalscoring positions. In the absence of such an understanding, it might have been better to have played three more direct forwards, take advantage of the 3 v 3 situation in that zone, and exploit the lack of pace in Inter’s backline. Totti played a couple of decent passes, but Inter were more than happy to let him come into a zone patrolled by Esteban Cambiasso, and let Roma play in front of them. A couple of bright moves came from Fabio Borini outpacing Andrea Rannochia, but there wasn’t enough of that.
Inter’s brightest moments came when Mauro Zarate came on for Diego Milito – he often played up against Taddei, who immediately looked uncomfortable against such a tricky opponent. Zarate had a couple of attempts that went narrowly wide. Gasperini’s mentality was summed up by his late substitution – forward Forlan off, midfielder Muntari on. He was happy with a point. Maybe Enrique was too – his changes were incremental.
Conclusion
Was this a tactical battle? It didn’t feel like it. It was more like two under-pressure managers focusing upon getting their new charges used to a new way of playing. Neither tried to exploit the particular weaknesses of their opponent, neither looked like scoring. There is still plenty of work to do for both.
Inter 0-0 Roma: interesting in theory, but not on the pitch
I think the Muntari change was an interesting idea, and more offensive in nature. Sneijder was closer to goal and was left free without compromising Inter’s midfield, the combination of Sneijder free and Zarate running at Taddei was arguably why Inter dominated the last few minutes.
If Muntari for Forlan is an offensive move, then I am smarter than Einstein.
The result was plain to see. Zarate, Jonathan, Sneijder, and Nagatomo managed to get the ball to dangerous area many times in the last 15 minutes, only to find no one in position to receive a pass. There was no target man in the box, after Forlan was subbed off. Many moves ended with an off-target shot outside the box due to lack of other options. If pushing for a win, Pazzini was the most obvious choice, as he had scored many goals for Inter off the bench.
It allowed Inter to keep possession and attack. Replacing Forlan with Pazzini would have given Inter more threats in the box, but they wouldn’t have kept the ball long enough to use the threats. In the ten minutes before Muntari came on, Roma were dominating possession, Inter couldn’t play 2 passes together. Muntari’s introduction meant that Inter were keeping the ball and at least taking shots, even if they weren’t good shots.
What was quite possibly the best chance of the game, Sneijder’s wide open shot straight at Kjaer, happened as a result of that move. Sneijder was Inter’s free midfielder, Inter kept possession and moved the ball up the field, they got chances. Never would have happened had Pazzini come in for Forlan.
Inter dominated the late period because Zarate came in and became a threat, since Taddei was unable to keep him quiet.
That was part of it, but even when Zarate was on with Forlan, Roma dominated possession. They overpowered Inter in midfield, Inter needed another midfielder.
only one team and one manager were really trying out there today
Surprised Jose Angel didn’t start, and I would have liked to see Bojan and Borrielo play. Also, when is Lamela going to get his first minutes?
Jose Angel is suspended after getting sent off in the first match of the season, and Lamela is injured.
I think you’ve got it backwards with De Rossi and Totti. They didn’t drop deep from their regular positions; they started deep (Totti as a standard trequartista and De Rossi almost as a sweeper) and then pushed forward on occasion. Totti especially — I don’t think there was a single moment in the match when he was the most advanced Roma player. Semantics, I guess, but Luis Enrique put a really strange lineup out there and I think it’s a bit of a disservice to try to make it seem a little more conventional by shoehorning it into a standard formation.
Nice article ZM, shame it was such a non event of a game. Will you by any chance be covering the Old Firm tomorrow?
Also can anyone shed any light on Diego Milito’s situation? It almost seems to be a Fernando Torres-type affliction he is suffering from.
Oh common, he scored twice last week!
So you dont think his average level of performance has declined significantly since the end of the 2009/10 season?
He’s 32. That’s not a Fernando Torres-type affliction; it’s just a striker who’s past his prime.
I felt that main difference between Roma’s performance today as compared to last week’s match against Calgiari was the amount of pressing they did. While still not at Barcelona standards, they managed to put pressure on Inter players with the ball in a way they just didn’t last Sunday.
Overall though, they’re still disappointing me, and it could be quite some time before we see the best of Luis Enrique’s team.
Roma have had a bit of a tradition for some time by now to threat the first 5-8 games of a season as an extension of the preseason, im sure it will get better in time
I am worried about Osvaldo thought, dont think he have the attributes to do well wide, and he haven’t showed anything of note so far
Osvaldo just isn’t mobile enough to work in a Barcelona style system.
Was dissappointed in how he played all game to be honest. Especially because the traditionally ill disciplined Lucio picked up a booking in the first 20 minutes and with a player who looked to get on the ball more and looked to commit him more often would have surely caused him trouble.
Maybe it wasn’t the best game for Totti to play, maybe move Osvaldo upfront and play someone like Bojan or maybe if Cicinho was available but i haven’t heard about him an ages. I think this direct threat against Lucio would have been more worrying for the Inter defender who wasn’t troubled enough after early booking.
expecting a higher level of game between man utd and chelsea tomorrow.
I think it’s interesting that Roma decided to go with 2 midfielders instead of fullbacks at (what was effectively) wing-back position. The fact that they didn’t have a direct opponent, or rather; their direct opponent was a fair distance away, obviously convinced Enrique that their ability on the ball would be more important than their defensive awareness as they weren’t up against any attackers.
This caught my eye because I have recently watched my team (Celtic) struggle and ultimately fail to break down a team (Sion) who were playing with a back 3 like Inter do. In that game Celtic’s fullbacks were a rightback playing on the wrong side due to the necessity to cover for injury, and a very athletic, though technically limited, player in the rightback position. As we were playing against a team with no wide attackers (like Roma were yesterday) our fullbacks had vast expanses to roam into and plenty of time on the ball. Unfortunately, these two players offered nothing going forward and, as a result, Sion were comfortable. Towards the end of the game we were largely playing in their half and I was willing the manager to bring on a winger in place of one of the fullbacks and give us someone with guile who could exploit the fact that Sion would leave him unopposed.
It’s something that I think managers should do more when their team is encamped in the opposition half. In this situation the need for a defensively aware fullback is limited, and the team could be better served by adding another creative player who, despite playing fullback, is not actually going to be doing much defending.
completely agree, sounds really stupid and probably doesnt apply, but i do it on fifa when i really need to score ie put a winger on at fullback
I like Luis Enrique philosophy (technical football and modern tactics) and I think that was a good option for Roma, which these last 10 years has been one of the most offensive teams in Europe (Even Capello plays a 3-4-3 ultra-offensive with them) and which had lost of managers tactically innovant (Spaletti with Totti as false 9, 3-4-3 of Capello etc…)
… so I am quite surprised that Roma be so weak in this beginning of the saison
didn’t see the party, but interesting analysis
Looking the schema Roma, Luis Enrique seems to copy Pep Guardiola, and his 4-3-3 ou became 3-4-3 with Barcelona
De Rossi at Busquets’ role, Totti false nine as Messi who go deep when Roma up the ball, and wing backs ultra offensive
Perrotta and Taddei as wing backs… it is quite a good idea… for Taddei.
Very big activity on the flank, player who is good at eat the line, and able to cross his runs to the penalty area… Taddei as wing back, i think it’s good
But Perrotta… no. For me it’s specificly a box-to-box player. Big activity in a big area of the midfield, tacle, push up… but imo, inable of using correctly the flank. No fast, no technic, and he is better to play “horizontal” than “vertical”
and i’m quite surprise to see De Rossi at Busquets role of mid def – libéro…
I prefered to see Pizarro on this role. Pizarro who is far less dynamic than De Rossi, but more intelligent and who has a far better quality of pass than De Rossi… it would be good to release the ball…
And De Rossi activity and dynamism miss on the midfield… Pjanic is not a “big motor”
Roma are a great team, but victims of their love/loyalty relationship with Totti. who else would sack Spalletti & not work with Luis Enrique? both are very sound tacticians from what i’ve seen.
you say you didn’t see the game, so i’ll tell you, Luis is not copying Pep. they have the same philosophy, but in different styles & systems. one of the major points they share is their tactical flexibility. Roma’s approach for the game was correct, but their application of it was not up to standard. its been said before, & i hope to be proven wrong, but the “Spanish” football of Luis Enrique will struggle in Serie A.
De Rossi has played the libero role with Spalletti before. although his passing range is not as varied, imaginative & precise as Peq, he is safe. Pizarro can play well, but needs space around him.
Roma’s pressing was high, & the nature of Inter’s defenders helped. i’ll forever call for Cambiasso to play in the back line because he can pass his way out of trouble. behind Totti, Borini & Osvaldo’s pressing, there was about 20-30m of free space which no one occupied. Roma’s midfield was too flat, light & defensive in that aspect.
with every game, more problems than solutions arise for both teams. but still, I hope these 2 catch up with Conte’s Juve & Max’s Milan
Haven’t seen much Italian football recently, but this game seemed to epitomise the complete lack of width that is so often referred to. Quite often the pitch was reduced to 44 yards wide, and players mostly looking to come inside. Only Nagotomo seemed a threat from the right, but didn’t seem as effective from the left which I believe is his preferred side.
Thought Totti became ineffectual in the secon half, pretty much playing as a midfielder, and in reality just crowded space limiting options rather than bein the creative player.
Don’t feel Muntari helped them keep possession, he could hardly play a pass when he did get the ball.
Pretty clear Seria A is now the 4th league in Europe, and risks falling further – 13 managerial changes in the summer is a shocking stat!
Nothing wrong with playing narrow buddy. I’m also intrigued about the algorithm you used to deduce how managerial changes equate to a league’s success. Significant personel change has long been a feature of Serie A. It’s part of calcio culture. Try watching more of it. Always a most intriguing league.
“Don’t feel Muntari helped them keep possession, he could hardly play a pass when he did get the ball.”
That was presumably a response to my first comment. Fair enough to say that, he didn’t contribute on the ball, it’s his off the ball work that helped Inter. He pressed Roma’s midfielders and eased the pressure on Inter’s more technical players so they’d have more time on the ball to keep possession.
As for the managerial changes, I’m sure any Arsenal fan will tell you change isn’t always a bad thing!
Inter – They did not need a back three today, with totti coming deep into cambiasso’s space, they had a player wasted at the back. By dropping one of the CB’s they could have played Zarate up against one of the wingbacks (taddei) and stopped roma dominating. They would then have two against two at the back, with cambiasso able to track totti’s runs. And zarate causing trouble down the wing. Cambiasso had a good game, nullified totti and played the ball well out from the back. Zanetti could have made some runs forward though, to test pjanics defensive skills, and cause a surprise factor further forward. Im not sure if Milito is the player he was, and lacks the athletism he once had, i think pazzini would have been the better option at leading the line. Sneijder looked the great player he is when he got space (Pizarro marked him tightly).
Roma – Good idea playing midfielders at fullback, they did a good job i thought, and looked better than inters wingbacks, it was just a shame the rest of the team wasnt as adventurous. The main problem for Roma was midfield i thought, despite them controlling the game more, they never really threatened much. I agree with above that Pizarro and de rossi should have swapped roles. Pizarro is much better at playing deep positions, and is a considerably better passer, he should have been the deepest player, looking to spread the ball around the pitch with the freedom and space de rossi got. De Rossi best attribute is his engine, i think he would have done better pressing sniejder, but also more crucially getting forward to test the defensive qualities of sneijder (like vice versa with inter as above) as pizarro isnt the sort of player to do that. The other problem with the midfield was that pjanic was playing far too deep, he isnt a great player in deep positions, he is much better higher up the pitch. He could have then linked with totti and overwhelmed cambiasso, helping roma dominate, but in dangerous positions. One last problem was that totti maybe came too deep too many times, and he could have made runs into the penalty area, to try and catch the defense out.
Also i think sneijder should have done a lot more to try and get space in this game, i really think if he had dropped deeper to get the ball, he wouldnt have been tracked by Pizarro (conservative and unwilling to go too far up the pitch) and would have helped inter dominate the game. This is really surprising from such an intelligent player, who should know this sort of basic move to try and get help the team gain control of the match
Don’t think his heart’s with Inter anymore tbh despite what he says…
He was very deep all game, to the point where it was a problem. He wasn’t close enough to the forwards to support them, all he did for the first 70 minutes was play 1-2s with Cambiasso and take set pieces.
What is the good point for playing OBI??
Can someone tell me, he is too young for inter mature team
He’s talented.
I’d love to leave it at that, but that’d be somewhat rude. Versatile (very good anywhere in midfield), hard worker, technical ability (he can dribble, his passing is clean, etc.), good defensively, fast, why shouldn’t he play?
Inter have a lot of experienced players, does that mean they should only play 30+ year-olds?
@abu and ahwas: Owww, because when i see inter milan rating at inter.it, he’s points just 4,6.
Honestly i prefer nagatomo on left side and maicon or jonathan at right side.
I far prefer him in the centre than on the left, he has what it takes to be a better version of Motta, but he’s still impressive on the left.
He runs.
While most of our other midfielders just can’t do that ATM
Yes, he runs but nothing more than that.
No passing, no dribbling, no reading of the game and still he deserves to be in the starting XI (but not on the side). How the mighty have fallen…
im jealous with manc united on how they grow and played their youth. i wish Inter can practice their methods. Stupid Gasp !!!
Inters players should all love their positions